Patrick’s bill addresses path to graduation for all students

Published 5:00 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Texas Senate Education committee has referred to the full chamber a bill that would overhaul high school graduation requirements to better emphasize workforce development.

The committee on Tuesday voted 7-0 with two abstentions to send it to the Senate. If passed, the new measure drastically would change the face of education as we know it today.

Committee Chairman Dan Patrick’s Senate Bill 3 would end the requirement that all high school students take four years each of English, math, science and social studies for 16 core credits out of 26 to graduate.

Instead, it creates four avenues for graduation, including a “Foundation Diploma” that requires only 12 core credits out of 26. Patrick’s measure also includes specially endorsed diplomas in business and industry, arts and humanities, science and math and distinguished achievement.

While there are questions that need to be asked as this moves to the floor of the Senate, we like what we see so far. The new design shifts to the broader aspect of education, acknowledging that many students aren’t eager for a college education.

Students, under the Patrick plan, now can focus on vocational and career training rather than college readiness.

Under this plan, students walking the graduation stage may be getting very different diplomas. One enhances a student’s ability to enter the college path, while the other directs a student toward an immediate vocational career or perhaps vocational courses in a community college.

We like the idea of broadening opportunities for all students. In many ways, the program accomplishes this mission. We do not buy into the fact that every child is meant for college, and it is important that we cater to the needs of those students as well.

It also has been reported that this bill does not address the testing aspect; that fight is being saved for a different day. We expect that issue will be raised during this session.

Patrick, as reported by the Associated Press, said this week that testing “is the most important issue in front of us this session. ... We’re obviously going to go back and make some changes.”

And while it could be argued that this bill forces students to make decisions about their education at an early age, the current one-size-fits-all system leaves a larger gap for students to fall through.

We hope this bill gets a good debate because Patrick’s bill is an attempt to change education for a large group of Texas students who are impacted negatively by the status quo.